Judge raps Park District over Latin field

(Crain's) -- In a rebuke to the Chicago Park District, a judge Friday afternoon handed a partial victory to a citizens' group that has been fighting the district's deal with Latin School of Chicago to build a soccer field in Lincoln Park.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Dorothy Kirie Kinnaird ruled that construction of the $2-million field, which is mostly complete, will be allowed to finish by the scheduled May 26 opening. But the judge put at lest a temporary halt to work on the field's lighting, bleachers and scoreboard, and said that once work is complete, Latin will have to stand in line with any other group that wants to use the facility at about 1800 N. Cannon Drive -- at least for now.

Judge Kinnaird described her decision to issue a temporary restraining order against the district and school as "extraordinary," but said she concluded that plaintiffs were likely to prove their case that the approval of the field violated city and state law, the district's own procedures and provisions of an anti-discrimination lawsuit the district settled several years ago.

"There is something troubling about this case," the judge said in reading her decision. "It includes secrecy and lack of public hearings."

When public land is involved, she added, "The public must be given an opportunity to know what is going on, and an opportunity to be heard."

An attorney for the plaintiffs group, known as Protect Our Parks, declared himself mostly satisfied with the decision, even tough the organization had hoped the judge would order an immediate halt to construction.

"The people had a good day," said attorney Thomas Ramsdell. "The judge stopped any private, priority use of public land."

The Park District says it plans to appeal and declined further comment. Bruce Meckler, an attorney for Latin, said the well-known private school also will appeal the decision.

Specifically, Judge Kinnaird ruled that plaintiffs probably are right that the proposed soccer field should have been considered by the Chicago Plan Commission under provisions of the city's Lakefront Protection Ordinance. They also have a likelihood of success in winning on grounds that the Illinois Constitution gives citizens a right to full information on disposition of public assets, she said.

Instead, she said, the district had only two public hearings -- both on the same day in October 2006 -- as part of the district's regular board meeting. Though Latin later held at least two large public meetings on the matter, public hearings under the law are not the same as public hearings held "for public relations," the judge said.

Had it been acting strictly on its own, the Park District might have been able to build the field without any extra public hearings, the judge indicated. But in this case, Latin will get to use the field almost exclusively in warm-weather periods after school.

The Latin deal, which Crain's first reported last year, guarantees the privately run institution exclusive use of the field almost every weekday afternoon from 3 to 7 p.m. in the spring and fall, plus extensive use in the summer and on weekends.

Latin is paying about $2 million for construction, an action that the Park District argues will give it a new, all-weather field that it did not have the funds to develop itself. The district will pay about $250,000 for lights, and intends to rent the field to other groups at night.

The district says it ran its plans by the Lincoln Park Advisory Council, local aldermen and other interested parties before approving construction. But the advisory council and aldermen have said they were not fully briefed, and plaintiffs in the suit argued that much more extensive public hearings should have been held as a matter of law and of good public policy.

The judge directed the parties to return on May 20, when she will begin considering issuing a permanent injunction.